LEGENDARY Queen guitarist Brian May surprised the audience at the premiere of musical We Will Rock You when he took to the stage unannounced.

The crowd at the Wales Millennium Centre had not been told May would be performing on Tuesday night.

Yesterday May attended an Assembly debate on the proposed badger cull in Wales.

He called the planned measure – reintroduced by Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones earlier this month following a court battle won by the Badger Trust – a “disgrace” and vowed to fight it all the way.

But Assembly Members last night voted in favour of going ahead with the cull by a majority of 42 to eight, though Mr May was confident the order would not eventually be carried out.

The 63-year-old music star said: “I think it’s a scandal, I think it’s an absolute disgrace that Elin Jones should be doing this at a time when bovine tuberculosis in Wales fell by 45% in the last two years without a single badger being culled.”

He added: “Nothing can be learned from this and so many healthy, beautiful wild animals will die.

“There is no need to be killing badgers and it’s a terribly irresponsible thing to be suggesting at this time, and I’m depressed that people should want to.”

He said he was unhappy with Ms Jones’ attempts to reintroduce the cull – which would apply to north Pembrokeshire and parts of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire if imposed – even after a court had opposed the plan.

“It’s hard to be civil. I try to be civil because I’m a decent human being,” he said.